Hi everyone need housing advice please :)

hi everyone, im new hear, I have now got 2 lovely Black female 11week old rabbits.

i do have them in a cage just now but i know it wont be suitable for long.

i have seen 2 styles of double hutches so looking for advice on that please?

one has a hide hole dark part on the top floor with a little play bit and also a ramp to bottom which is totally open(with wire) for playing in,
the other has a hide hole at top and bottom and also a little play part like a single hutch, but does have a ramp for them to get to each level but also this can be closed off if they ever have a bad fight etc.

hoping for some help thank you :)x

Heya

Will the hutch be in a shed or playhouse or with an attached run for extra space? I've heard people say that if you have two buns you should ideally have two nesting areas.

My pair live in a shed which has a double tier hutch inside. The hutch has one bedroom upstairs and I've put another nesting box out on the floor of the shed.
It's all about space really!

Hi jaybee,

Welcome to HH.

You have come to the right place if you have questions. We have a wide member base from owners with one bun to rescues who see hundreds pass through their doors so there is always some good advice to be had. Feel free to post away asking anything you like.

Quite often the best type of accom is a hutch with a run attached.

The RSPCA and the RWAF both say the minimum size of this should be a hutch of 6ft x 2ft x 2ft with a 6ft x 4ft run attached at all times.

Alternatively people often use a shed to house them or a play house, to give them optimum space, again with a run attached.

Quite often the double storey hutches lose space because of where the ramps are, but there are some nice double hutches around. These should always be attached to a good sized run though.

The size of the hutch is so very important. If buns are kept in a space too small, they experience muscle wastage, deformities, and very painful arthritis.

They should be able to do 4 clear hops from one side to the other and should be high enough for them to stand and stretch up on their back legs.

On the fighting side, once buns start to fight their bond is broken and unless they can be re-bonded they will continue to fight and can seriously hurt each other. It is quite common in girlies as they are very territorial. However having them spayed will really help this. They are very likely to fight if their accom is too small too.

If your lovely ladies do start to fight, please pop by and ask for help as we have lots of members here who are very experienced in bunny care and welfare and hopefully we will be able to help.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have and join in the posts too

Katie x

they live in the house, and are only in the cage at bed time and when we r out so they get loads of exersice and loads of space as they have the living room to play in, i had a rabbit before but she died after having her a few months which was devastating for uz, and we got these 2 so not really sure what to do the hutches i have seen have lots of space but i wasnt sure if i should buy the one with 2 nesting parts or 1 with the small run under. x

Hello and welcome to the forum

Are the buns staying as house rabbits? If so you probably don't need to look at hutches, you can easily attach a pen onto their cage or build a bigger cage/pen from c&c grids, or from dog pens! Unless you want a big hutch inside your home!

I have a house bun too and he lives in a pen/cage I built from c&c grids, and there are plenty of pics in the property ladder section of people's indoor housing solutions and builds!

The joy of making up your own from a pen etc is that it can be any shape and size to fit in your home and then you can also put a separation bit in while you are trying to bond your two bunnies and you can also make nesting boxes for each of the buns to go in their enclosure and can move them around and clean them easily! I actually just give mine a cardboard box because he loves shreadding them and then just replace it with another one when needed!

I hope that was of some help! Feel free to ask away!

Im sorry to hear about your bun.

Sounds like whichever you choose would be fine x x

Ah so they will remain house rabbits? When people say hutch I just think outside immediately. Unless you do want a hutch inside, I too would recommend c&c grids because you can continually customise shape and size without having to keep buying new cages etc. Instead of a cage you could also buy a large dog crate.

The alternative is to really thoroughly bun proof a room. My pair living in what is laughingly referred to as the dining room. There are no cables at all in there and nothing that they can chew that would cause them any great harm. They have a large indoor cage that has the front removed in which I have places their litter tray and water. Apart from that they permanently free range! Space is important - especially when you have 2 buns of the same sex if you want to avoid fights. I am also assuming your buns will be neutered as soon as they are old enough as this will also help with their ongoing relationship. If you really need to have them confined then I would suggest attaching your existing cage to a run of some description - or placing it within the run. There are some very competivly priced wire runs out there that make good indoor options or the previously mentioned panels that fix together and make for a flexible set up. If you take a look in the property ladder section you will find lots of example of how other forum members keep their indoor buns.

i dont really have a huge living room, so was thinking the hutch would house them as they are never really in the cage just now, i dont have the space to put a extended run for them but i do let the run around the living room.x